Duskers Review

Duskers Review

I’ve arrived at the Space Station Omega, a B-class Fuel Refinery in the outer reaches of the Stratos system. There are 10 crewmembers enlisted to this station. But they’ll be dead. Everyone is dead except for me, and I don’t even know that for certain. According to the computer report, Omega Station is 208 years old, and considered to be 'Volatile'. This could mean any number of things; the only thing I know it means is that, eventually, something bad will happen.

We dock at airlock A1, and I send in my four lead drones - Austen, Bronte (without the accent), Shelley, and Eliot. I don’t know why I named them after great female authors of the neoclassical era, but something in my gut tells me they would make for great company. To be honest, at this point I’d probably accept Martin Amis with a migraine. But drones are all I have.

I send in Austen to investigate the first few rooms using her stealth mod, and once I’m sure the coast is clear, direct Bronte to the immediate area. Shelley I leave in dock for now, while Eliot brings up the rear, scanning the station with her motion tracker. There’s something moving in room R9. That’s fine. There’s always something moving in Duskers. I’m more concerned about room R4, because the motion scan is inconclusive. In others words, there might be something moving in there, but there also might not. Such uncertainty is a far greater problem.

My target is at the far end of the station, where there are two (TWO!) deactivated drones. Finding two deactivated drones is like walking into a derelict space station and finding Santa Claus instead of a nineteen legged monster that wants to eat your fingers and lips. But this is a big station, and it’s going to take a while to get there.

It turns out there’s nothing in room R4. But there are several other somethings in other rooms on the station, and checking each one is a slow and dangerous process. Lingering at the back of my mind all the while is that word 'Volatile'. If the station is volatile, it hasn’t played its hand yet.

My three drones reach the room containing their deactivated brethren. Only Eliot has the ability to tow other drones, so this will take a few minutes.

Then a message appears in my operational command interface:

'Lost video signal to Drone 3.'

That’s Shelley, the drone I left behind in the hangar. I flip over to her video feed. But all I get is static.

Oh my God. A Something has got to Shelley.

Oh my God. There’s a Something in my Hangar.

OH MY GOD. There’s a Something ON MY SHIP.

OH MY GOD. I AM GOING TO DIE.
…

'Video signal restored for Drone 3.'

The feed flickers into life. Shelley remains exactly where I left her. There is no Something on my ship. Everything is fine.

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